Victory Day
by whyitisyou
Summary: During the Battle of Hogwarts, Oliver Wood tries not to get distracted by his school crush, Alicia Spinnet.


p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Victory Day/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Oliver Wood was gathering the last things he'd need when the familiar dove Patronus entered through the window. She had remembered him. Her sweet angelic voice sounded through the bird:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Harry has gone to Hogwarts. We're fighting./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He'd not tell her that the Weasley twins had already alerted him and he was on his way out. She had worried in telling him and that meant the world to him. Not that his school years crush was the most important thing at the moment, but he couldn't stop his heart from beating faster. He thought of her and produced a Patronus to send her an answer. He watched briefly his giant bear running out in the night and apparated to the Hog's Head./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Arriving there, he saw the back of a girl with long cascading hair he had admired for so long. He called her name:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Alicia?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Oliver! I knew you'd come!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""How could I not? It's everyone's destiny at stake."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Even so, it's good to see you."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She hugged him and he could smell the top of her head. The same smell of when she'd hug him during their Hogwarts years. He smiled despite of everything:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""It's good to see you too. I hope we can meet in better circumstances." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She smiled back at him:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""We're putting everything right tonight. It's Harry we're talking about. Our Harry."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"He could only think at how much blood would be spilled that night. Or even worse, if em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"her/em blood would be spilled. From that moment on, he made an internal promise of not losing sight of her. They were joined by others of their former Quidditch team and Alicia got distracted talking to everybody./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Alicia was climbing Ariana's portrait and Oliver was there to offer his hand to help her. The moment their skins connected, Oliver could feel the electricity flowing through him. Alicia seemed oblivious of the fact. They gathered in a strange room inside of Hogwarts, one Oliver had never been to. Harry soon joined them, all cladded in battle already. Alicia's warm whisper touched his ear:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;""Little Harry has grown so much. Who'd say we'd follow him to our death?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"There was no time for him to answer, arrangements were made and everyone was leaving for the Great Hall. Alicia walked straight to the door, but not without looking back to see if he was following. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"A bewildering disembodied voice surround all of them. The Dark Lord asked for Harry in a half-hour time. As the firsts syllables of his speak started, Alicia got scared and her hand flew searching for someone to give her a mildly protection. She almost grabbed Oliver's arm, but stopped herself midway./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanAs the students were being evacuated, he made sure to follow the group of people going to the lawns leaded by Lupin, Alicia amongst them. It didn't take long before flashes of green light had been fired against them. The Death Eaters were all around and they didn't care who their killing curses would hit. Oliver tried to stay close to Alicia, but he soon lost her in the middle of battle. He kept trying to advance, trying to ignore the piercing screams of allies coming from behind him and the nauseating smell of blood. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThe earth began to tremble and the easily spotted giants approached the castle. Briefly, everyone ignored who they were battling with in order not to be smashed under enormous feet. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAnd then the cold. The chilling sensation brought by the hundred gliding dementors who had just joined the fight. Oliver stopped to figure out his whereabouts and realized he had run all the way to the Quidditch pitch. Some kind of irony. To his surprise, he saw a woman being circled by half a dozen of dementors. She was paralyzed by fear and wouldn't conjure a Patronus. He sent his grizzly bear in her aid immediately. Her tormentors went away but the woman passed out. In a rush of adrenaline, Oliver ran to her and caught her before her head hit the ground. Alicia slowly opened her eyes to thank her savior and smiled at the friendly face. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I own you one, Big Boy."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe stuttered:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"M-ma-maybe you should sit this one out… I mean, until you can recover."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanShe jumped back to her feet:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Never! We're Gryffindors, Wood."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanShe made a movement as if she was about to run back to battle, but Oliver grabbed her arm out of pure instinct. She wasn't very pleased with him and was about to protest when the Dark Lord's second announcement made her jump scared into his arms. He held her close to his chest and maybe a little to tightly. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanOne hour of retreat, one hour to care for the dead and the injured. They walked together and in silence back to the Great Hall. Alicia's eyes opened up like saucers when she saw the number of corpses already gathered on the Hall. Oliver's heart broke when he heard her yell of misery seeing Fred Weasley's body. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Not Fred! Oh, no!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanShe didn't throw herself at the dead boy body out of respect for the family. Oliver couldn't stand it. He decided to make himself useful. Soon enough he found Neville asking for volunteers to carry the dead back inside. He knew his bulky self would be useful. He lost track of time as he and Neville worked on searching the lands for their fallen heroes. So many so young. So many hopes and dreams were shattered that night. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThey carried the last body they could find back to the castle and Oliver sat down and sighed. A friendly hand touched his shoulder:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Live, it's been a rough night. Come sit with us and have a sip of butterbeer before we rejoin the fight."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe turned and saw Angelina trying to smile at him. He took her extended hand and walked closer to where Alicia and Katie were. Alicia's eyes met his and the corners of her lips tilted up. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThey heard You-Know-Who's voice again telling the world that Harry Potter was dead. Tears started running down Alicia's face and she took a step closer to him and closed her arms around him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Live, not Potter! That little boy who joined our Quidditch team. Not Harry!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe patted her back and said nothing. There was nothing to be said. They had lost. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanWithout much enthusiasm, they walked hand in hand - her initiative – out of the castle. They wouldn't bow before the Dark Lord, but they were without leardship for another assault. Then it all happened in a flash: Neville being humiliated under the Sorting Hat, he catching fire. People started charging against the Death Eaters, arrows were flying from somewhere he couldn't see. Both sides dueling entered back in the castle. The fight had reignited. No one was safe and their had lost Harry. At least, now they had the centaurs and house-elves at their side. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanOut of nowhere, Harry showed himself up and alive. He and the Dark Lord circled one another talking about Dumbledore and things in the past that Oliver couldn't follow. At least, everyone else had stopped and he could seek Alicia out of the crowd. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanTom Riddle's body lay flat on the floor. Eruptions of joy and sadness filled the Great Hall. The last Death Eaters were escaping and no one cared. He saw Alicia running towards him and jumping in his arms:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"We won! We won!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe started to twill her around joining her glee. Until he felt soft lips against his. She broke the kiss:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Sorry, I always wanted to do that and tonight felt like now or never."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe started their second kiss and could feel she smiling into it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I had a huge crush on you since the first time I saw you throw a quaffle. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI wanted to ask you out and to join the team, but only had enough nerve to do one of them."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I had a crush on you even during your never ending Quidditch sermons at muddy Saturday mornings."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanShe kissed him again. Victory. /span/p 


End file.
